My Friend Fela Filmscreening and Q&A with Director Joel Zito Araújo

My Friend Fela provides a new perspective on the Nigerian musician Fela  Kuti, in order to counter the most often portrayed narrative of Fela "as  an eccentric African pop idol of the ghetto", according to director  Joel Zito Araújo. The complexity of Fela's life is unravelled through  the eyes and conversations of his close friend and official biographer,  the African-Cuban Carlos Moore. As the documentary unfolds, it reveals  the many influences and forces that shaped Fela's extraordinary life:  from the relationship he had with his mother to his many and problematic  relationships with women, from his ties with his spiritual advisor  Professor Hindu to his mutually influential encounters with African  Americans. By placing Fela's personal history in a pan-African context,  the film becomes not only a portrait of one man but also of a  pan-African generation.